Large size container with frame



March 10, 1970 s. COPPEL 3,499,694

LARGE SIZE GONTAYINER WITH FRAME Filed Aug. 5, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Q QE IZIII/ I gni-mum s March 10, 1970 0. C O PPEL LARGE SIZE CONTAINER WITH FRAME 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 3, 1957 March 10, 1970 P 3,499,694

LARGE SIZE COQTAINER WITH FRAME Filed Aug. 3, 19m 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 WWI 7 1 March 10, 1970 e. COPPEL 3,499,694

' was slzn commnnn WITH mum Filed Aug. 5, 1967 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,499,694 LARGE SIZE CONTAINER WITH FRAME Georges Coppell, 31 Rue de Rosiers, 93, St. Oueu, France Filed Aug. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 658,069 Claims priority, application 7France, Aug. 19, 1966,

7 Int. Cl. B65b 59/00 US. Cl. 31235 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to a large-size container whose rigidity is provided by an internal frame so that its walls, which can only provide ordinary protection against external agents, can be made of light and low-cost materials, said frame, in addition, possibly comprising components which constitute shelves either of the conventional type, or of the type allowing dynamic storage of the product contained in said container, i.e. storage in which the various stored objects are set out in a file, the removal of the first object of a file inducing the displacement of all the other objects in said file, so that the object that is removed is immediately replaced by another similar one.

Methods are known for making large-size containers in which the most varied commodities may be stored and transported using any of the usual means of locomotion. Such containers, whose carrying capacity may reach several dozen tons, are generally in the form of an enclosure whose rigidity, which must be very great, is insured by walls of the self-bearing type, which constitutes a heavy solution and sometimes limits the maximum possible dimensions. In addition, in such containers the commodities are simply stored for the duration of the transportation and upon arrival it is necessary, in order to place them at the disposal of the user, to transfer them to a conveniently equipped warehouse.

The present invention makes it possible to provide, in a simple manner, large-size, relatively low-cost containers having a great flexibility of use.

A container according to the invention consists of a rigid frame made of sturdy lengthwise components, internal and peripheral, rigidly assembled to one another, and of panels attached onto the said peripheral components so as to constitute a closed enclosure whose rigidity is obtained through said frame and whose insulating qualities with respect to external agents are insured by said panels which only contribute in a secondary or even negligible way to the sturdiness and rigidity of the assembly. The frame preferably is made using internal and peripheral sections in the form of an L, T, or U, assembled so that the volume defined by the peripheral sections is a right angle parallelepiped, and plate-shaped panels, comprising plates. The internal components constitute shelves on which the commodities to be transported will be placed, said shelves preferably being adapted to provide a dynamic storage. Preferably there is provided, under the floor of the container, in the vicinity of at least one of its edges, at least one support having the form of a semi-cylinder with a circular section cut in the direction of its generating lines and fixed to said floor along the generating lines defining the plane of the section so that, when the container is raised by the extremity opposite to that in the vicinity of which is fixed said support, the tilting of said container occurs through rolling of the lateral face of said semi-cylindrical support on the ground.

An important feature of the invention consists in providing means for setting below the floor of the container, in the vicinity of at least one of its edges, at least one lever making it possible to raise the container through one of its extremities and, as a result, give it an inclined position, said lever being preferably retractable inside the container or collapsible below the floor and being provided, at the extremity that is in contact with the ground, with a base plate on which it is articulated, along at least one axis.

There are preferably provided suitably shaped parts on the roof of the container making it possible to stack easily, precisely, and safely, several containers on top of one another.

The container is preferably provided with means for handling it easily, using slings, jacks or fork elevators.

These and other features as well as the different advantages of the invention will appear more clearly as a result of the following description.

In the appended drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a container according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of a container according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing the use of the supports in the form of a semi-cylinder and of the levers in order to facilitate loading or unloading;

FIGURE 3a shows the handling of a container according to an embodiment of the invention, using slings;

FIGURE 3b shows how a container according to an embodiment of the invention may be grasped by forks in order to be handled by handling equipment provided with forks;

FIGURE 4 shows two containers stacked on top of one another;

FIGURE 5 shows a warehouse arranged using such containers.

FIGURE 6 shows a top view of the warehouse shown in FIGURE 5.

The same reference numerals apply to homologous components on the various figures.

The container shown in FIGURE 1 consists essentially, of a frame whose shape cannot be changed, made using a certain number of binding irons such as 1 which may be, for example, sections in the form of an L, U or T, rigidly assembled to one another for example through welding, of a floor, not visible in the figure, which may be made for example from a plate which may be for example metallic, attached onto the corresponding components of the frame, of a ceiling 2 consisting of a plate, which may be for example, metallic, attached onto the corresponding components of the frame, of lateral panels 3 consisting of a sheet of corrugated plate whether metallie or not, set in a manner that is detachable or not onto the corresponding components of the frame, and of frontal panels 4 consisting of a corrugated plate 5 attached on a bridle 6 which may be hooked onto the lateral walls through hooking means 7 thus making it possible to obtain a safety closure providing protection against theft of the commodities stored inside the container. The socalled lateral panels may be at will either those corresponding to the longest sides, or those corresponding to the shortest sides of the right angle parallelepiped made up by the container, and, may be the inverse for the so called frontal panels.

FIGURE 1 shows as well, below the floor of the container and in the vicinity of two of its extremities, supports 8 which are preferably in the form of a semi-cylinder with a circular section cut in the direction of its generating lines and attached to said floor along the generating lines defining the plane of the section so that, as is clearly visible on FIGURE 2, when the container is raised by the extremity opposite to that in the vicinity of which is attached such a support, the tipping of said container occurs through rolling of the lateral face of said semicylindrical support on the ground. On the roof of the container are also set angle bars 9 and 10 arranged so as to constitute receptacles for supports 8 of a second container stacked on the first one. Preferably, these receptacles are arranged on the four corners of the roof so that the bearings occur directly on the vertical ridges which form the boundary of the frame. Furthermore, the inside of the container is provided with shelves consisting of trays such as 11 arranged in a parallel direction with the floor of the container and of vertical partitions such as 12 which are parallel to the lateral panels so that the commodities to be transported shown as packages having the form of right angle parallelepipeds such as 13 can be easily set into place or removed according to the principle of dynamic storage by simple displacement on the trays, from one extremity or the other of the container, their guiding being, furthermore, insured through the use of angle bars such as 14. The container is finally provided with hooking rings 15 making its manipulation possible using slings as well as shoulder brackets 16 thus providing for handling using forked devices or for unloading using jacks.

FIGURE 2 shows a container comprising the same structural components as in FIGURE 1; in addition a lever 17 is shown which is made using a metallic part of great rigidity perforated perpendicularly in the direction of its length with holes 18 in which a rod 19 may be run through, which turns out to be perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the lever so as to constitute a handrail for the corresponding extremity of the container. Lever 17 ends with a stand 20 on which it is articulated through an axis 21. Said stand 20 is of sufficient size to provide a suitable bearing on any ground without sinking into the latter. Axis 21 makes it possible for stand 20 to always lie flat on the ground even if the latter shows a certain incline and Whatever the inclination of the lever may be, the latter being a function of the height to which the corresponding extremity of the container is raised. Lever 17 ends, at that one of the extremities which is linked to stand 20, by a circular part having as its center the geometric axis of axis 21 and a radius equal to the distance between said geometric axis and the upper surface of the base plate of stand 20 so that Whatever the inclination of lever 17 may be, its extremity always bears on the base place of stand 20 thus decreasing the shearing forces applied to said axis 21. The setting into place of the lever, which may, depending on the degree of inclination given to the container, penetrate more or less inside the container into an opening provided for this purpose is, in addition, made possible by the semi-cylindrical form of supports 8. The setting of a container in the position shown in FIGURE 2 facilitates loading and unloading through gravity and makes it possible, if the container constitutes of itself a component of the storage warehouse, to obtain dynamic storage, each unit removed by any of the shelves at the lowest extremity of the container being immediately replaced by the following unit due to sliding of the entire file of units under the action of gravity. Furthermore, the setting into place of four levers such as the one described above makes it possible 4 to free the jacks used to unload a container from a selfpropelled platform. The slightly bell-mouthed shape given to the extremities of the angle bars 10 has also been made evident on FIGURE 2; this is also true for the extremity of angle bars 9, which insures the guiding of supports 8 in the receptacle formed by angle bars 9 and 10 and facilitates, as a result, the stacking of the containers on the top of one another.

FIGURE 3a shows how a container as disclosed hereinabove may be handled using slings 22 ending with hooks 23 which are run through rings 15. Crossbars 24 prevent the slings from hearing on the upper ridges of the container which might cause distortions and deteriorations of the latter.

FIGURE 3b shows how using forks 25 capable of being introduced into shoulder brackets 16, it is possible to manipulate a container as disclosed hereinabove, said forks 25 being for example the gripping components of a selfpropelled conveyor or attached onto jacks.

FIGURE 4 shows two containers as disclosed hereinabove. stacked on top of one another and set into their respective position thanks to angle bars 9 and 10 constitutings receptacles for support 8.

FIGURE 5 shows a warehouse consisting of a certain number of containers 26, as disclosed hereinabove, and placed side by side on either side of a lane delineated by portals 27 supporting a roof 28, said containers, inclined thanks to the setting into place of lever 17, providing dynamic storage of the commodities which they shelter.

It is to be understood that the lateral walls of the container may consist of insulating materials so as to make a thermally insulated container, or that the lateral panels may be fixed onto the frame by means of mechanical shock absorbers, made of rubber or elastic plastic material so as to increase the shock absorption coeflicient of the container walls, or that the frame may be made of tubes welded onto one another or fixed to one another in whatever manner, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A container having walls including a floor and forming a closed enclosure, a rigid frame made of lengthwise internal and peripheral components assembled rigidly to one another, said walls consisting of panels fixed onto the said peripheral components, the said internal components constituting shelves on which the commodities to be transported may be arranged, at least one lever, means for securing the said lever to the container at right angles to said floor at one corner of said floor, a stand provided, at the extremity of the lever which is to rest on the ground, means for hingedly mounting the said lever on the said stand, whereby the stand can be placed in a flat position on the ground even if the latter presents a cetrain incline, this being applicable whatever the inclination of the lever may be.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 703,872 7/1902 Wells 16-32 992,080 5/1911 Swanger 16--32 1,993,451 3/1935 Michand 21149 XR 3,321,258 5/1967 MacKay 312-250 FOREIGN PATENTS 763,490 12/ 1956 Great Britain.

BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 220--l.5 

